Finance Bill 2017-19 Round-Up

The government has published Finance Bill 2017-19, containing a number of changes that will affect both savers and investors.

Many of the measures in the Bill were expected in April 2017 but were withdrawn due to the snap general election, which took place on 8 June 2017.

Most of them have now been reinstated with immediate effect, such as:

the reduction of the money purchase annual allowance from £10,000 to £4,000

abolishing permanent non-dom status so those living in the UK for years pay tax on the same basis as UK residents.

Mel Stride, financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “These motions now pick up where we left off and legislate for the provisions that were introduced and withdrawn due to time constraints [caused by the decision to call a snap general election].”

Further measures

There were other measures confirmed in the Bill, such as the annual dividend allowance being reduced from £5,000 to £2,000 from April 2018.

The pensions advice allowance will enable savers to access £500 from their pension savings tax-free for regulated financial advice. This can be done up to three times before the age of 55.

In relation to Making Tax Digital, businesses with turnover below the VAT registration threshold no longer have to keep digital records until at least April 2020.

Regulations on digital record keeping for VAT purposes will not take effect before 1 April 2019.